# 9.7. How do I use the three extra keys on my Windows keyboard in KDE?

You may have to configure your X server via xmodmap to bind the keycodes of the Windows keys to useful X key symbols (xev is your friend!).

First, create a file $HOME/.Xmodmap containing the entries:

     keycode 115=F13
     keycode 117=F15

Then run

     xmodmap ~/.Xmodmap

This sets the 'Start' key to emit F13 and the 'Windows' key to emit F15. Next, fire up the KDE Control Center and go to Keys->Global Keys. Set 'Pop-up system menu' to F13 and 'Window operations menu' to F15. That's it.

Please note that the numbers 115 and 117 may depend on the keyboard. If you aren't sure, please check using xev. In addition, the above procedure requires KDE 1.1 and above.

As a side note, kikbd is able to do this too, but keymaps have to be edited. The advantage of kikbd is that one can choose whether to use these mappings on several custom keymaps and have them hotswappable.

It would be interesting to make a little script which will automatically do the keymaps modifications on demand. Kikbd should be able to read/understand user-side keymap files.